


Smile On Me Still

by Yeggnog



Category: Thunderbolt Fantasy 東離劍遊紀 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Multi, Other, Will add tags as I go, coffee shop AU, cw: swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23083828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeggnog/pseuds/Yeggnog
Summary: coffee shop + bakery auship: Shang Buhuan (owner of a bakery)/Sha Wusheng (employee in a cafe), Shou Fukan/Setsu MushouWelcome to the Dove Cafe and the Shortbread bakery, we have nothing but fluff and shenanigansseriously, this is just fluff on fluff on fluff, and coffee. And inaccurate pastries. Very cheesy.
Relationships: Setsu Mu Sho | Shā Wú Shēng/Sho Fu Kan | Shāng Bù Huàn
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. 三月雨, March Rain

**Author's Note:**

> This stuff isn't beta-ed, so if you catch an error, feel free to shame me
> 
> also also: the structure for writing the names are: surnames alone, the names after are written together (e.g. Shang Buhuan instead of Shang Bu Huan), a heads up just in case :ok_hand:

* * *

It’s five forty-eight in the morning, rain lightly tapped on the display windows of the Dove Cafe, the smell of spring and the light music surrounded Sha Wusheng as he prepared for the morning shift. 

He cleared his glasses of condensation and turned on the dehumidifier.

Milk? check.

Coffee beans? check.

The machines? All working perfectly.

Sacrilegious tea in the coffee shop? Sadly there.

All that is missing are the pastries, which will arrive in less than thirty minutes. 

Wusheng lazily picked up the espresso presser and went to work, as he waited for the water to boil, he grabbed a pack of dutch chocolate, frozen fruit and a carton of milk, placing them neatly on the counter, followed by grabbing nine empty cups, stacking them on the opposite end. He then turned around to read the coffee menu on the walls while grabbing a small bag of coffee beans and tossed it around. 

He had read this list for what feels like a million times, each ingredient memorized to the T. It never hurts to read it again.

To Wusheng, coffee has a life of its own, the art of coffee making drove him to work every day, it gave him a purpose. It’s a type of creation and beauty in its very own right, almost an ideology. 

And also rent. He needed to pay rent.

The whirl of the machines slowly came to a stop, the water was almost ready.

He began to grind the beans. 

_ “Mie Tianhai CO.” _

_ “Deluxe Coffee Beans.” _

Wusheng mused. He remembered how months ago, Mie Tianhai visited the shop for a business meeting.

He was a tall and haughty man who wore his wealth like a peacock on a parade, boastful and will not shut up about how his coffee beans were the best in the industry.

But his boasts were not out of nowhere. His coffee beans were indeed beyond what anything Wusheng has seen. No matter how haughty he may be, Mie Tianhai’s coffee beans were as good as they come, hell, Wusheng would do willingly do an infomercial without pay for Mie Tianhai CO. just because the coffee was _ that damn good-- _

Wusheng’s internal monologue was disturbed by a crisp knock on the backdoor, he looked at the time. 

Six o’clock. 

Right on time. 

He quickly packed and secured the ground coffee beans to the espresso machine, placed a cup under, and went to open the door. He was greeted by a man with greying hair, he was pushing a cart full of delicate pastries into the coffee shop, while a woman with bleached blonde hair followed him while carrying a tray full of piping hot bread.

“Good Morning, Wusheng.”

Wusheng made way for the incoming cart and retrieved a cup of coffee, the woman smiled and greeted him as she handed him her tray, “Good morning, Sir Wusheng.”

He took the tray in one hand and handed her the cup of black coffee, “Good morning, Sir Shang, Yingluo.”

Xie Yingluo took a gulp of her coffee, her smile became wider as the coffee slowly disappeared from her cup, Wusheng placed the tray on a table, took a piece of bread and returned to behind the counter. 

The door to the Dove Cafe opened and a familiar white-haired headache walked in, followed by his coworkers Xing Hai and Shou Yunxiao.

Wusheng handed Xing Hai and Yunxiao a cup of coffee while they took a piece of bread from the bread tray, he went to prepare another cup while Yingluo helped Buhuan unload the pastries into the cafe’s display counter.

  
  
  


“Aha, Good morning, Sir Shang.”

“Good morning, Lin Xueya.”

  
  


Lin Xueya took the reply as a cue to continue yapping, while Shang Buhuan’s replied with exasperation and irritation. The bosses of the cafe and the bakery squabbled like children: Xueya poking Shang Buhuan’s head, Buhuan swatting his hand away, bantering, typical morning shenanigans. 

Wusheng tore his eyes from the duo and resisted the urge to smack his head on the machine. As he waited for the espresso to brew, the glass counter of the Dove Cafe slowly filled up with decadent pastries, the smell of fresh coffee encapsulated the atmosphere. The day was set.

Xing Hai piped up while Yunxiao downed his bread with an americano in the background, “Seriously, do you men ever stop squabbling? It’s seven in the damn morning and my head’s gonna explode.”

“Xing Hai, love, this isn’t about you, this is about Sir Shang’s shop and the incorporation of--”

“Please stop, Shortbread will _not_ provide macarons shaped like swords. Or _anything_ that’s _remotely_ _shaped_ like a sword.”

“Aha~ you’re no fun, Sir Shang! Where’s the drive and creativity? Innovation is the essence of attracting more customers, isn’t it, Wusheng?”

“I think you should drink your coffee.”

The bantering came to a stop as Wusheng handed each of them a cup of coffee, Xueya huffed as he sipped his drink while Buhuan took a deep breath before taking a sip.

“How’s the coffee?”

“Wonderful as always, dear Wusheng~.”

Wusheng grumbled, “Not you, Lin, I’m asking Sir Shang.”

Xueya lazily returned to sipping his coffee while grabbing a piece of bread from the tray, Buhuan’s face remained neutral as he took another sip.

“...strawberries, cream… Something like Affogato in the morning?”

Wusheng felt his shoulders tighten, “Ah, yeah.”

Buhuan’s beamed, “Quite out of the box! I’m actually more surprised that you haven’t made this yet, Wusheng.”

Wusheng felt his shoulders relax, the corners of his mouth tugged at the sight of Buhuan’s smile. 

Wusheng took a sip of his own coffee, the March rain slowly came to a stop, “How’s the bakery doing?”

“Shortbread is doing pretty well.” Buhuan grinned, “The collaboration between Dove Cafe really gave us the boost we needed.”

Wusheng snorted, “pretty sure you’ll do fine even without our boost.”

Instead of hearing Shang Buhuan’s typical humble denial, Wusheng received a hearty laugh, he watched Buhuan quickly shuffling away, picking up a tiny pastry from the now-empty cart, then gently taking Wusheng’s hand.

For a moment, Wusheng just wants to hold that hand back.

“Wusheng?”

The voice snapped him back to reality, “Right, ‘xcuse me.”

In his palm lies a pastry with the diameter of a small coca-cola bottle. He carefully examined the piece: A smooth chocolate tart marbled with what looks like a chestnut puree, garnished with a sunflower seed brittle. Wusheng held the tart up and examined it further, the marbling of the tart resembled a striped carnation, and there’s a faint whiff of milkiness from the brittle.

“... Hm? What’s this?”

“Macadamia nuts, not terrible if I do say so myself.”

Wusheng took a bite of the tart with the brittle and hummed, “Not terrible indeed.”

He popped the rest of the tart in his mouth as Buhuan spoke, “I’m glad to hear that from you, Wusheng. Not gonna lie, I was kind of worried that the sunflower seed and nuts combo might feel misplaced.”

“Nope, it’s great the way it is.”

“Hey, hate to break it to you guys,” Yunxiao interjected, “But the shop is opening in ten minutes. If I were you, I’d want to get moving.”

“Right, sorry about that,” Buhuan winced, he stepped away from the counter and retrieved the empty cart, “Thanks Yunxiao. See you later, Wusheng.”

The greying man waved and rushed back into the bakery, quickly pushing his cart by Wusheng, muttering about how Yingluo ran off without telling him. 

Wusheng snickered at the traces of Buhuan’s empty grievances, “Hey, Sir Shang, hold up.”

“Hm?”

He placed three cups of still-piping hot drinks onto the cart and grinned at Buhuan, “Cappuccino for Dan Fei, mocha for Wuyao, and the sacrilegious tea for Canyun.”

“Ah, I forgot about these,” Buhuan replied, “Thank you, Wusheng.”

“No need. See you later, Sir Shang.”

Buhuan chuckled and gently patted Wusheng’s shoulders, “We’ve known each other for like, what? A good six months now, just call me Buhuan.”

“Wait, what?”

He stared at Buhuan as he answered him with ‘rushing away into the back doors without saying jack-shit’, Xing Hai groaned.

“God, it’s almost nauseating watching you two interact sometimes. All you’re missing is a ‘kiss me goodbye’ and an ‘oooh dear I’ll miss youuu’ to complete this sappy bullshit.”

“ _Excuse me?_ ”

The bells on the cafe doors jingled merrily in the soft morning sun. It’s seven-thirty in the morning.

“Ooh, we have a customer,” Xing Hai snickered, “Less talking, more coffee.”

“Xing Hai. What the hell.”


	2. 六月蟬: June Cicadas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's summer, and there are way too many people.
> 
> Wusheng takes a break from the hustle and visits the Shortbread bakery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aha~ still not beta-ed
> 
> but also there might be some ooc in this chapter hgn--
> 
> man TBF characters
> 
> kinda hard to write :'D

* * *

The sky was coated with bedazzling cerulean while the cicadas screeched under the burning mid-noon sun.

Wusheng stretched lazily and took a deep breath, the smell of trees filled the air, the land smelled like the sun. The cafe was taken over from the sudden flux of students liberated from schools during vacation, crowds young and old almost completely overwhelming him and Xing Hai as the morning passed by.

He cracked his knuckles, folded his apron and made his way to the bakery through the front doors, scanning his surroundings. The line to Shortbread’s counter was long as hell, plenty of people coming in, but not enough going out. Wusheng huffed and stood in line, there’s not much he could do about this anyways.

He whipped out his phone and waited, scrolling mindlessly through instagram, occasionally liking a pic or two.

“Wusheng, it’s good to see you today!”

He looked up from his phone, the voice came from a petite woman with dark hair.

“Ah, good afternoon, Dan Fei,” He shoved his phone back into his pocket, gesturing to the general surrounding of the bakery, “It's really busy today, huh.”

“Yeah, I mean, it’s kinda expected. It’s summer,” Dan Fei shrugged, “Canyun is currently in the back, he’ll be out in a second, would you like to purchase something?”

Wusheng scanned the glass counter, each basket contained a different type of bread or pastry of some sort. 

“What would you suggest?”

“Oh!” Dan Fei’s face brightened, “I highly recommend the spinach puffs, it’s a recipe developed by Canyun and it’s really good!”

“I’ll take two then.”

“Of course! Would you like to have a plate or a bag?”

“A plate would be fine.”

As Dan Fei handed Wusheng his spinach puffs, Wusheng spotted Canyun rushing out from the back rooms.

“Hey dear, sorry that I took so long.”

“No worries, love, everything’s going fine.”

Yeesh, they’re so sickeningly sweet that Wusheng almost lost his appetite. 

Almost. 

Wusheng checked the time, it’s been almost an hour and Shortbread was still crowded with hoards of patrons and aircon freeloaders, he sighed and made his way back to Dove Cafe. from the corners of his eyes, he saw Shang Buhuan sitting alone in Shortbread’s staff’s lounge through the slightly open door. He turned and called for the couple’s attention.

“Hey guys, is Sir Shang free right now?”

“Oh, yep,” Canyun replied, “But he’s looks kinda dead right now, you might want to wait after he takes a nap or something before approaching him.”

[kinda dead, huh.]

Wusheng hummed then returned to Dove Cafe, a few moments later, he sauntered back into Shortbread with a tall mug and the two untouched spinach puffs.

He knocked on the door.

“Buhuan?”

Buhuan immediately lifted his head from his hand, turning towards the sound of Wusheng’s voice, “Wusheng! Hi! Come in! What brings you here today?”

“Nothing, just wanted to.”

He moved closer to Buhuan, who scooched over to make space for Wusheng, he then rested his head on the back of the couch.

Wusheng frowned, “Did you stay up with Sir Lang again?”

Buhuan sighed, “Nah, it’s just me. Last week Dan Fei made a house rule that only one of us can stay up during weekdays, we’re trying to adhere to that.”

[That’s not what I meant.]

“Yeesh, you still pulled an all-nighter. Careful, old man, keep that up and you’ll end up with a cardiac arrest.”

“Psht, who are you calling old? I’m at most only six years older than you.”

“Pffft, yeah right,” Wusheng smirked, he passed a spinach puff to Buhuan, “Your greying hairs are very convincing.”

“Hey, I just happened to grey young, it’s genetics,” Buhuan took a spinach puff and chuckled.

“You’re welcome.”

The duo ate in silence, then Wusheng spoke, “So, what’s happening in the back kitchen this time?”

“Nothing much, I’m mostly trying out new recipes for both Shortbread and Dove for the fall season, there’s really no breakthrough this week.”

Wusheng handed him the mug, which Buhuan took and graciously drank from, “Geez, I get that about working ahead, but I think you’re pushing yourself a little too hard on this.”

“Ahh, you can’t judge me now, barista, you arrive at the cafe at five-thirty  _ every day _ of the week, it’s a miracle that you’re not burnt out.”

“Pfft, how would you know?” Wusheng scoffed, “It’s not like you live here or something.”

“...Actually…? I do.”

Wusheng’s eyes widened at the information as Buhuan caught the puff that almost fell out of Wusheng’s hand, “Shit, sorry--”

“Haha, no worries,” Buhuan handed the half-eaten spinach puff back to Wusheng, “Yeah, the building came with an apartment room upstairs when I first bought it, so I just, moved in.”

He tilted his head away and gracelessly coughed into the back of his hand, “Uh, I swear I wasn’t purposely watching you, it’s just, ugh...” He groaned, “Jesus Christ sleep deprivation is a bitch and a half.”

Wusheng remained expressionless. He felt the temperature of his face steadily rising, the skin of his pale fingers slowly turned into a light shade of red despite the air conditioning in the room. 

“Eh, I get it,” Wusheng spoke, he placed his hand on Buhuan’s back, “I, kinda, memorized your work schedule since I’m here so early and so often… and I can kind of hear you and Sir Lang working in the kitchen. It’s kind of nice, knowing I’m not here alone.” 

The room fell silent as Buhuan took another gulp from the coffee mug, Wusheng stuffed the rest of his spinach puff into his mouth.

The tension in the room slowly dissipated as Buhuan took another sip, he scrunched up his face as he tried to decipher the flavors in his mouth.

He rubbed his eyes and grumbled, “It tastes really familiar. But I can’t put my hands on it. Is it one of the tests in the morning? Wait no, the test in the morning was something like a white coffee? Or flat white?” He groaned, “Anyways it had a white in the name.”

Wusheng snickered, “Right, I think you’re just tired,” He smacked his shoulder that was closest to Buhuan, “You should sleep.”

“Heh, Are you sure? I don’t think I should,” Buhuan peered at his watch, “I have a shift in… what? 20 minutes?”

“You’re on break, a 20-minute nap won’t kill you.”

“...‘Aight, if you say so.”

Buhuan sighed, leaned back against the sofa and closed his eyes, letting his fatigue take reign over his cognitive abilities. Wusheng felt a dull ache growing in his chest, slowly tightening the air in him, making it harder to breathe as he watched Buhuan shuffled around uncomfortably on the sofa.

He peered at the watch on Buhuan’s wrist and sighed, it’s one in the afternoon, his shift doesn’t start until a few hours later. He took off his glasses and slowly leaned back against the couch with Buhuan, letting himself sink into the memory foam.

Moments later, Wusheng felt something on his shoulder and neck, he opened his eyes to see Buhuan’s face slumped over, head in between his neck and shoulder.

Wusheng shuffled closer, closing the neck-straining gap between him and Buhuan, then gently leaned against him. 

At that moment, a redheaded man walked in, “Shang, it’s your shift--”

Wusheng glared at Lang Wuyao, silently shushing him as he pointed towards Buhuan. The room fell silent as the sound of serene snoring resonated around the staff room. 

Wuyao glared right back sighed, shaking his head, “God, he’s worse than me sometimes.”

He kept his voice low, “Wusheng, if Shang wakes up, tell him to rest for the day. I’ll take over his shift.”

Wusheng silently replied with an “ok” hand gesture, prompting Wuyao to leave the duo alone.

Almost 4 hours later, Xing Hai’s voice blasted through the cafe and the bakery, “Wusheng where the fuck are you, It’s 5 o clock, we’re closing--”

The doors to the Shortbread staff’s lounge opened with a loud crack, allowing Xing Hai to barge right in, Wusheng glared at her with an intensity that she has never seen before, she scanned the room, going silent when she noticed a still sleeping Shang Buhuan.

“Oh.”

“'Oh' my ass,” Wusheng whisper-shouted, “The fuck you’d have to be so loud for?”

“Oh shit I thought you were just slacking off when the crew said you’re here,” She whispered back. Her embarrassment was quickly replaced by a diabolic, shit-eating grin, “Bitch, took you long enough. How was it?”

Wusheng’s face turned into a bright shade of mahogany, “Xing Hai.”

“Yeah, keep quiet, loverboy, I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” she grabbed her bags and ran off like the wind.

“Xing Hai you shithead-- Ugh.”

“You two seem close.”

The owner of the voice peered up from the nook of Wusheng’s neck, his voice was still weighed down with fatigue, but he looks, well, less dead.

“Yeah, sort of,” Wusheng rubbed his temples as he recalled his first day working in the Dove Cafe, “She walked me through on how to the Dove Cafe when I was first hired. A damn good barista despite her chaotic personality.”

“Mn. I see.”

As Buhuan stood up from the couch, Wusheng felt the slight brush of Buhuan’s beard against his neck, his mind went blank for a moment while Buhuan took his hand and pulled him up and away from the couch.

“Well, you heard the lady though, it’s five, you should head back too, ” His face slowly scrunched up as he awkwardly scratched his head with his free hand, “I apologize though, I kinda kept you from going back to the cafe in time--”

“Nonsense,” Wusheng quickly interjected, his grip on Buhuan’s hand tightened, “I’d honestly spend my time here with you rather than to deal with the sudden flux of people who’re here for the air-con rather than the coffee.”

“Heh, I mean, customers are customers, at least they’re buying something.”

“...”

“I, uh, gotta go. I need to go home and water my plant.”

“Right, uh, stay safe? Have a safe trip...?”

From Wusheng’s blurry vision, the semi-cohesive blob of dark beige was slowly tinted with blooms of maroon as the blur swayed back and forth pensively, then slowly came in closer. The blob gradually focused and shifted from colors and morphed into Buhuan’s face, looking Wusheng in the eye, the intensity of his gaze made Wusheng’s mouth feel dry. He leaned in, gradually closing his eyes as he lowered his head.

Then something stopped him, a hand gently pushing against his chest, a light clack, then a familiar weight on his nose bridge. He opened his eyes.

“Glasses, Wusheng. Don’t want you to hurt yourself when you’re on your way home.”

Wusheng felt his face flare-up, jerking his head away and distanced himself from Buhuan, “Right, yes, glasses, blind, correct.” 

While the room was ice cold from the running aircon, Wusheng’s face was red and burning as if he had just ran a marathon, his sputtering was put to a stop by Buhuan’s laughter, “Hey man, don’t get too worked up, I presume you don’t live far away?”

“Uhh, twenty minutes down the street.”

“... would you like me to walk you home?”

“It’s alright, Buhuan, I’ll manage.”

The grip between the hands slowly loosened as Wusheng stepped away, but even so, Wusheng could feel his hand linger, holding on until the fingers fell out of his hands.

At the door, Wusheng spoke, “...I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

He smiled and waved at Buhuan, who waved back. As he turned to finally leave, from the corners of his eyes, he saw Buhuan quietly turning away, the tips of his ears were dyed red.

[Damn, my shoulders kinda sore tho.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sup nerdz I am back on my bullshit
> 
> Chapter three is gonna take some time since IBDP really is going at it despite the widespread lockdowns for COVID-19. So, gotta get gud grades before the ship, mate.
> 
> but for real tho this was hard to write two, electric boogaloo:
> 
> 1\. ahahaha I'm a professional word butcher, wordsmiths hate me lmao
> 
> 2\. wheef "google, how do I not ooc for this TBF AU? :'D"
> 
> Seriously, feel free to kick my butt over this, I insist.

**Author's Note:**

> (cough yes the title of the first chapter was inspired by a Vocaloid song (;v;))
> 
> UUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHH this is so fucking cheesy I hate that I wrote this hsfgjklfhdjghsfjd 
> 
> it's too damn sweet gdi I think I need to hide under a rock forever
> 
> JK that's a lie. The part that I said "I hate", that is. Not the part when I said "hide under a rock".
> 
> Welcome to this hell hole of a ship, turns out there are only three sha shang fics, including this one. How are you here? What brought you here?? Bro do you need to sit down and talk about existential thoughts???
> 
> Either way, welcome abroad to this oddly rare rarepair™
> 
> ok time for the personal-ish about the writing experience:
> 
> This is by far one of the most difficult fics that I have ever written: fluff, no angst, no deaths, just fluff.
> 
> And in the Thunderbolt Fantasy fandom too, oh the irony.
> 
> Seriously, all my previous fics were labeled with “Major Character Death”, so this coffee shop AU was something quite new for me, ((besides that one tattoo and florist AU fic that I’ve abandoned two years ago lol))
> 
> ((...wait I should repurpose that.))
> 
> But any w a y s, desperate times call for desperate measures, I abandon my angsty ass to add some fluff for this terrifyingly small pool of rare pair 
> 
> Feel free to smack dab and tell me the fic sucks/how to improve since I’m almost 67% sure that this fic is bland as shit right now :D
> 
> When will chap 2 come out, you ask? //-cough-no one asked
> 
> Idk man, but it'll happen? I think?
> 
> ye!


End file.
